1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to roller coasters and other amusement park rides, and, more particularly, to vehicle and track designs and systems to provide passengers with ride experiences that include flying or banked corners similar to those experienced in a luge, an alpine slide, a bobsled course, and the like in a controlled and safe environment and with a smooth, floating or flying sensation.
2. Relevant Background
Amusement parks continue to be popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. Park operators continuously seek new designs for thrill rides because these rides attract large numbers of people to their parks each year. Roller coasters and other thrill rides provide numerous twists, turns, drops, and loops at high speeds that many park goers demand. These rides may be gravity driven, as is the case with many roller coasters, or powered to provide a desired user experience with a particular track configuration. A thrilling portion of some of these rides is the side-to-side movement as a car travels along a track. Other rides provide the high speed banking experience as a car or vehicle goes rapidly around a banked corner or bend such as at a portion of the track that is not flat but is instead angled or sloped such that the vehicle is tipped, which forces the passengers to lean or shift to the left or right. Passengers find such experiences exciting because they are experiences they typically do not obtain in their own vehicles, e.g., with highways typically having relatively low speed limits on any banked curves such as freeway entrance and exit ramps and rapid side-to-side movement being unsafe for automobiles.
In particular, the banking sensation is a key portion in amusement park rides that attempt to provide “flying corners.” These rides simulate bobsleds or a luge with a track that is U-shaped or arcuate in cross section, and vehicles on wheels, casters, sleds/skis, or the like ride within the track-defined chute, dry flume, trough, or pipe. As with many roller coasters, the vehicle is released at a high point in the track and gravity provides the motive force for moving the vehicle along the course of the track with the rises, falls, and curves used to control the speed of the vehicle. In such rides, the cornering is considered a flying corner as the car or vehicle is able to travel transversely relative to the primary direction of travel without mechanical guides or rigid tracking. A well-designed bobsled-type ride may provide flying corners with a unique banking and overall ride experience.
Flying corner rides, however, have not been widely adopted or utilized in amusement parks due to a number of serious limitations. Existing tracks have typically been formed of wood and are very difficult and expensive to fabricate. The tracks generally are very large and deep because escape from the channel is prevented by the depth of the channel (or height of the edges) when combined with the configuration of the vehicle (e.g., its width, weight, and other design parameters). In addition to cost configurations, the rides may involve a considerable amount of vibration as the vehicle's hard wheels contact portions of the surface, and significant design efforts, with associated added costs and complexity, have been attempted to absorb or remove this shock or vibration to try to make the rides smoother and more enjoyable for the passengers. Other concerns with conventional bobsled or luge-type rides have included braking of the vehicle at the end of the ride, and these efforts have often created complex braking systems that further add to a ride's installation and maintenance costs.
As a result of these concerns of safety and cost, flying corner or bobsled/luge rides are not provided at most amusement parks. There remains a need for a method of providing park guests with a thrill ride that provides the sensations associated with flying corners or side-to-side and banking movement similar to a bobsled or luge traveling on an ice-lined chute.